Cell phone extension using wireless piconet

ABSTRACT

In accordance with the principles of the present invention utilizing the BLUETOOTH specification Cordless Telephony profile, incoming calls to a cell phone including a Gateway role can be routed to another piconet device (e.g., another cell phone including a Terminal role. Two cell phones with BLUETOOTH capability each include the Cordless Telephony Profile. The cell phone receiving the call acts as a PSTN cordless telephone Gateway cell phone via the cellular network, while the other cell phone acts as a cordless telephone Terminal cell phone. The cordless telephone Terminal cell phone then acts as an extension to the Gateway cell phone allowing both calls to the Gateway cell phone to be answered at the Terminal cell phone, and even allowing calls by the Gateway cell phone to be originated by the Terminal cell phone. Moreover, the present invention includes the ability for any one of a number of authorized Terminal devices (e.g., Terminal cell phone) to answer an incoming call to a Gateway cell phone ‘on the fly’ after hearing the ringing at the Gateway cell phone.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to piconet wireless networks. Moreparticularly, it relates to the implementation of a cell phone extensionusing BLUETOOTH™ piconet type cordless telephone profile communications.

2. Background of Related Art

Cell phones are typically configured so that one phone is associated toone phone number. When a caller calls the cell phone, the user mustlocate the called cell phone, and answer the incoming call.

There are times, however, when the user is not in a convenient positionto answer a ringing cell phone, or in a convenient position to havesomeone else (e.g., a co-worker or family member) answer the cell phonefor them. For instance, if a cell phone rings in a meeting, the user maynot want to disrupt the meeting to answer the call. In such a case, itmight be more convenient to have someone outside the meeting answer thetelephone call, e.g., a secretary, receptionist, etc.

As another example, a wife's cell phone may ring while it sits in herbriefcase in the back seat of a car. Her husband has his own cell phone,but at a different telephone number. Conventional techniques allow thewife to forward all telephone calls to her husband's cell phone untilotherwise instructed.

As yet another example, a manager may be making a presentation to alarge group when his cell phone starts ringing. Neither he nor anassistant can make it to the cell phone without interrupting themeeting. Using conventional techniques, the manager should have calledthe service provider to arrange for call forwarding of all incomingtelephone calls to another phone before he entered the meeting.

Conventionally, call forwarding convenience is provided by a serviceprovider such as a telephone company. FIG. 3 depicts call forwarding ina conventional cell phone scenario.

In particular, as shown in FIG. 3, a wireless network 310 includes afirst cellular telephone 302 and a second cellular telephone 304. Inaccordance with a preset call forwarding arrangement 330, an incomingtelephone call from a wireless or landline phone 320 to the secondcellular telephone 304 is forwarded to the first cellular telephone 302using the preset call forwarding arrangement 330.

Call forwarding is a revenue generating feature often provided for a feeby a telephone company (wireless or landline). To activate callforwarding, a user typically must call their service provider (be itwireless and/or landline) and provide a single telephone number toforward all calls to for a particular telephone number.

If the user desires the calls to be forwarded to another telephonenumber, then they must call the service provider again and ask that thecall forward number be changed. While this is convenient, it lendsitself to more static scenarios. Thus, such preset arrangement andpayment for call forwarding is useful for longer term situations (e.g.,user will be out of office for a week, etc.) and is less practical forquick, spur of the moment type situations (e.g., ad hoc meeting).

Moreover, calls may be forwarded to only one other telephone number.There is no provision in conventional call forwarding techniques whichallows forwarding to more than one telephone number simultaneouslyallowing any of a plurality of other telephone numbers to answer anincoming telephone call to a particular cellular telephone.

Also, from a service provider's perspective, it is preferred that anincoming call be answered, rather than simply forwarded to voice mail,so as to incur billable air time.

Accordingly, there is a need for a quick and efficient cellulartelephone feature which allows arrangement for an incoming call to onecellular telephone to be answered by any of a plurality of other devicesin a more real time environment.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

In accordance with the principles of the present invention, a cellulartelephone comprises a cellular telephone module, a piconet front end,and a cordless telephone PSTN gateway role, in communication with thecellular telephone module and with the piconet front end. The cordlesstelephone PSTN gateway role allows a remote piconet device to answer anincoming call to the cellular telephone over a piconet network.

A method of remotely answering an incoming call to a cellular telephoneover a wireless piconet network in accordance with another aspect of thepresent invention comprises establishing a piconet network including thecellular telephone and a remote piconet device. Audio is routed from thecellular telephone to the remote piconet device over the wirelesspiconet network.

A method of allowing a remote piconet device answer an incoming call toa wireless telephone in communication with said piconet device inaccordance with yet another aspect of the present invention comprisespassing incoming call information from the wireless telephone receivingan incoming call, to the remote piconet device over a wireless piconet,and audibly ringing the remote piconet device in response to receipt ofthe incoming call information by the wireless telephone.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Features and advantages of the present invention will become apparent tothose skilled in the art from the following description with referenceto the drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 shows one cellular telephone (a terminal) answering an incomingtelephone call to another cellular telephone (a gateway) using audio andcontrol transmitted over a wireless piconet (e.g., BLUETOOTH™ piconet)using cordless telephone profile techniques, in accordance with theprinciples of the present invention.

FIG. 2 shows a cellular telephone including both a PSTN Gateway role anda Terminal role as defined in the Cordless Telephony profile of theBLUETOOTH specification, version 1.0, in accordance with the principlesof the present invention.

FIG. 3 depicts call forwarding in a conventional cell phone scenario.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF ILLUSTRATIVE EMBODIMENTS

Piconets, or small wireless networks, are being formed by more and moredevices in many homes and offices. In particular, a popular piconetstandard is commonly referred to as a BLUETOOTH piconet. Piconettechnology in general, and BLUETOOTH technology in particular, providespeer-to-peer communications over short distances.

The wireless frequency of piconets may be 2.4 GHz as per BLUETOOTHstandards, and/or typically have a 20 to 100 foot range. The piconet RFtransmitter may operate in common frequencies which do not necessarilyrequire a license from the regulating government authorities, e.g., theFederal Communications Commission (FCC) in the United States.Alternatively, the wireless communication can be accomplished withinfrared (IR) transmitters and receivers, but this is less preferablebecause of the directional and visual problems often associated with IRsystems.

A plurality of piconet networks may be interconnected through ascatternet connection, in accordance with BLUETOOTH protocols. BLUETOOTHnetwork technology may be utilized to implement a wireless piconetnetwork connection (including scatternet). The BLUETOOTH standard forwireless piconet networks is well known, described in the BLUETOOTHspecification, version 1.0, publicly available from the web sitewww.bluetooth.com. The entire BLUETOOTH specification (core andprofiles), version 1.0, is explicitly incorporated herein by reference.

The BLUETOOTH specification defines a Cordless Telephony Profile. Inparticular, Part K:3 of the BLUETOOTH specification version 1.0B,Profiles, pages 96-138, defines the features and procedures that arerequired for interoperability between different cordless telephones,e.g., between remote handsets and corresponding base units. TheBLUETOOTH specification is incorporated herein in its entirety byreference, as is the Cordless Telephony Profile portion of the Profiles.

The ‘3-in-1’ phone is a solution for providing an extra mode ofoperation to cellular phones, using BLUETOOTH as a short-range bearerfor accessing fixed network telephony services via a base station. The 3functions include making calls via a base station (i.e., cordlesstelephone mode), making direct intercom calls between two terminals(e.g., between two cellular telephones), and, of course, providingcellular telephone services.

The Cordless Telephony Profile defines two roles: Gateway (GW) andTerminal (TL). The Gateway acts as a terminal endpoint from the externalnetwork point of view and handles all Interworking towards that network.The Gateway is the central point with respect to external calls, whichmeans that it handles all call set-up requests to/from the externalnetwork. The Terminal is the wireless user terminal (e.g., the remotehandset of a cordless telephone). The Cordless Telephony profilesupports a small number (i.e., less than 7) of terminals, or 3 activevoice terminals.

In accordance with the principles of the present invention utilizing theBLUETOOTH specification Cordless Telephony profile, incoming calls to acell phone including a Gateway role can be routed to another piconetdevice (e.g., another cell phone including a Terminal role).

In accordance with the principles of the present invention, two cellphones with BLUETOOTH capability each have the Cordless TelephonyProfile. The one receiving the call acts as a PSTN cordless telephoneGateway cell phone via the cellular network, while the other one acts asa cordless telephone Terminal cell phone. The cordless telephoneTerminal cell phone then acts as an extension to the Gateway cell phoneallowing both calls to the Gateway cell phone to be answered at theTerminal cell phone, and even allowing calls by the Gateway cell phoneto be originated by the Terminal cell phone.

Moreover, the present invention includes the ability for any one of anumber of authorized Terminal devices (e.g., Terminal cell phone) toanswer an incoming call to a Gateway cell phone ‘on the fly’ afterhearing the ringing at the Gateway cell phone.

For instance, FIG. 1 shows one cellular telephone (a terminal) answeringan incoming telephone call to another cellular telephone (a gateway)using audio and control transmitted over a wireless piconet (e.g.,BLUETOOTH™ piconet) using cordless telephone profile techniques, inaccordance with the principles of the present invention.

In particular, as shown in FIG. 1, an incoming telephone call from anexternal source (e.g., landline phone 320) proceeds through the cellularnetwork 310 and is routed by the cellular network to a Gateway cellphone 104. The cellular network need not be cognizant of the remoteanswering of the Gateway cell phone 104 in that the cellular networkwill continue to route the incoming telephone call to the Gateway cellphone 104, even though a Terminal cell phone 102 will act as a cordlesstelephone remote handset using the Cordless Telephony profile of theBLUETOOTH specification and remotely answer the incoming telephone callover a wireless piconet network 110 (e.g., a BLUETOOTH piconet network)between the Gateway cell phone 104 and the Terminal cell phone 102.

The BLUETOOTH specification suggests that a cell phone be given theability to be a Cordless Telephone Terminal (See Profiles pp. 100 ff.Version 1.0 B). However, in addition, the present invention provides acell phone with a Gateway role.

The extension phone need not be another cell phone as shown in FIG. 1,but rather could be any BLUETOOTH device including a Terminal role. Forinstance, the Terminal device may be, e.g., a cordless telephone, acomputer (e.g., PC), a personal data assistant (PDA), or even anadvanced headset.

FIG. 2 shows a cellular telephone including both a PSTN Gateway role anda Terminal role as defined in the Cordless Telephony profile of theBLUETOOTH specification, version 1.0, in accordance with the principlesof the present invention. Thus, as shown in FIG. 2, both the Gatewayrole 250 and the Terminal role 260 of a cordless telephone profilemodule 200 in accordance with the BLUETOOTH specification, version 1.0,are included in the Gateway cell phone 104.

In particular, as shown in FIG. 2, a Gateway cell phone 104 includesboth a wireless piconet front end 240 and a cellular telephone front end222, as well as otherwise conventional cellular telephone functionality220. The wireless piconet front end 240 provides wireless communicationswith a wireless piconet 110 in an otherwise conventional fashion.Similarly, the cellular telephone front end 222 provides cellularcommunications (e.g., answering incoming telephone calls) in anotherwise conventional fashion.

An audio path is established between the cellular telephonefunctionality and the cordless telephone profile, allowing a telephonecall with the Gateway cell phone 104 to be supported with cordlesstelephone features (e.g., remote answering, remote conversation, etc.)controlled by the Terminal 102. Audio is passed between the Gateway cellphone 104 and the Terminal 102 over the piconet network 110 using, e.g.,BLUETOOTH audio as defined in the BLUETOOTH specification, version 1.0.

When remotely answered, the Gateway cell phone 104 is directed by theTerminal 102 to answer the incoming telephone call in an otherwisenormal way, but diverting its audio and control to the Terminal 102. TheGateway cell phone 104 may mute its microphone and/or speaker as desiredin particular applications and/or as configured either by a manufactureror by a user.

The Gateway cell phone 104 preferably allows any authorized one of aplurality of Terminal devices participating in the wireless piconetnetwork 110 to remotely answer an incoming telephone call. Preferably, alist of authorized Terminal devices permitted by the user of the Gatewaycell phone 104 to remotely answer any incoming telephone call ismaintained in an authorized terminal list 230.

The authorized terminal list 230 may be maintained in any suitable formin any suitable memory. Also, the authorized terminal list 230 may beconfigured and re-configured from time to time by the user of theGateway cell phone 104 and/or by the manufacturer.

As an additional feature, remote answering by a Terminal device may berestricted to certain callers. Thus, the Gateway cell phone 104 maycompare call related information (e.g., CallerID information) receivedwith respect to an incoming call, and determine which, if any, of theauthorized terminals listed in the authorized terminal list 230 may beallowed to remotely answer that incoming call over the wireless piconetnetwork 110.

Instead of or in conjunction with the authorized terminal list 230, aTerminal device may attempt to become authorized by establishing apresence on the piconet network 110, communicating a particular codesuch as a personal ID (PIN) to the Gateway cell phone 104 requestingauthority to act as a cordless telephone remote handset and remotelyanswer the incoming call to the Gateway cell phone 104 via the piconetnetwork 110. This request for authorization may be done ‘on-the-fly’ inan attempt to catch a currently ringing incoming call, or may be done aspart of a configuration or pairing of the Terminal with the Gateway cellphone 104. If the Terminal device 102 is another cell phone, theauthorized terminal list 230 may maintain the cell phone number of thatTerminal device 102, allowing it to remotely answer incoming calls tothe Gateway cell phone 104.

Both the Gateway cell phone 104 and the Terminal 102 may include boththe PSTN Gateway role 250 and the Terminal role 260 shown in FIG. 2,allowing either device 104 to act as a Gateway and either device to actas a Terminal.

An exemplary application of use of a Gateway cell phone 104 (e.g., ahusband's) and a Terminal cell phone 102 (e.g., a wife's). The husband'sGateway cell phone 104 begins ringing in the husband's briefcase, whichis in the back seat of the car. It may be more convenient for the wifeto take out her Terminal cell phone 102 cell phone and remotely answerthe husband's Gateway cell phone 104 more quickly than it would be tofetch the briefcase in the back seat of the car.

In accordance with the Cordless Telephony profile, any or all authorizedTerminal devices 102 may be contacted when the Gateway cell phone 104receives an incoming call, to allow any or all of the Terminal devices102 to also ring. Preferably, the ring type of the Terminal deviceacting as a remote handset to a Gateway cell phone 104 is distinctivefrom the ring otherwise produced when an incoming call goes directly tothe Terminal device in an otherwise conventional manner. Moreover, theTerminal device(s) may be allowed to ring even while the Gateway cellphone 104 is in a silent ring or no ring mode. Moreover, the Terminaldevices can be configured to audibly ring differently depending on whichof a plurality of Gateway cell phones may be receiving an incoming call.

The present invention may be utilized for remote initiation of atelephone call, as well as remote answering of an incoming call to acell phone. Moreover, it allows for inexpensive Terminal devices to tapinto advanced features of more expensive Gateway cell phones, withoutthe need to implement the hardware and/or software for the featuresthemselves in the Terminal device.

The authorized terminal list 230 may be expanded to includeenable/disable configuration for allowing some Terminal devices 102 toaccess certain features in the Gateway cell phone 104, while disallowingaccess to other features. For instance, some Terminal devices may becapable (or allowed) to answer incoming calls to a Gateway cell phone104, but not to initiate calls from the Gateway cell phone 104.

The present invention also provides an interface between devices havingdiffering telephony standards. For instance, the invention can connect aUS cell phone (e.g., IS-41 standard) to a European cell phone (e.g., GSMstandard) network via a BLUETOOTH connection to a GSM Gateway cellphone. Likewise, it can connect a TDMA phone to a CDMA network.

Also, in accordance with the principles of the present invention, twodifferent cell phones with two different telephone numbers can each beconfigured as a BLUETOOTH extension of the other.

The present invention has application in any piconet device, includingcell phones, laptop computers, cordless telephones, etc.

While the invention has been described with reference to the exemplarypreferred embodiments thereof, those skilled in the art will be able tomake various modifications to the described embodiments of the inventionwithout departing from the true spirit and scope of the invention.

1. A method of remotely answering an incoming call to a cellulartelephone over a wireless piconet network, comprising: establishing apiconet network comprising said cellular telephone and a remotetelephone piconet device in direct communication, said cellulartelephone being adaptable to operate as a PSTN gateway and comprising apiconet front end; allowing said incoming call to said cellulartelephone to be answered over a piconet network by another telephonedevice instead of by said cellular telephone; and performing callestablishment functions from said cellular telephone under control ofsaid remote telephone piconet device.
 2. The method of remotelyanswering an incoming call to a cellular telephone over a wirelesspiconet network according to claim 1, wherein: said piconet network isBLUETOOTH compliant.
 3. The method of remotely answering an incomingcall to a cellular telephone over a wireless piconet network accordingto claim 1, wherein: said establishing said piconet network includesestablishment of a scatternet connection.
 4. The method of remotelyanswering an incoming call to a cellular telephone over a wirelesspiconet network according to claim 1, further comprising: establishingin said cellular telephone a list of authorized remote telephone piconetdevices permitted to remotely answer incoming calls to said cellulartelephone.
 5. Apparatus for remotely answering an incoming call to acellular telephone over a wireless piconet network, comprising: meansfor establishing a piconet network comprising said cellular telephoneand a remote telephone piconet device in direct communication, saidcellular telephone being adaptable to operate as a PSTN gateway andcomprises a piconet front end; means for allowing said incoming call tosaid cellular telephone to be answered over a piconet network by anothertelephone device instead of by said cellular telephone; and means forperforming call establishment functions from said cellular telephoneunder control of said remote telephone piconet device.
 6. The apparatusfor remotely answering an incoming call to a cellular telephone over awireless piconet network according to claim 5, wherein: said piconetnetwork is BLUETOOTH compliant.
 7. The apparatus for remotely answeringan incoming call to a cellular telephone over a wireless piconet networkaccording to claim 5, wherein: said means for establishing said piconetnetwork establishes a scatternet connection.
 8. The apparatus forremotely answering an incoming call to a cellular telephone over awireless piconet network according to claim 5, further comprising: meansfor establishing in said cellular telephone a list of authorized remotetelephone piconet devices permitted to remotely answer incoming calls tosaid cellular telephone.